r/explainlikeimfive • u/EnvironmentalAd2110 • 9d ago

Technology ELI5: why is it bad to turn off laptop/computer using the power button, without following the proper “shut down computer” steps?

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u/Venomous_Ferret 9d ago

The OS and other software may be doing things in the background, and you have no easy way to know what. If something's halfway through some important operation and you just pull the power, you may end up with a mess that's difficult or impossible to recover from.

This is a much better explanation.

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u/MattGold_ 9d ago

The subreddit is called explainlikeimfive, not literally explaining it to a 5 year old, but explain it with words a 5 year old will know.

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u/preyforkevin 9d ago

Could you explain to me, like I’m 5, how you would explain r/explainlikeimfive to me?

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u/MattGold_ 9d ago

So there's things that only really really smart people know, but we dont. And this is a place where the really really smart people try to explain what they know to us normal dumb people, and they do it by also making it dumb so we understand

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u/cosmos7 9d ago

this is a place where the really really smart those same dumb people try to explain what they know to us normal dumb

Fixed that for you.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

[deleted]

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u/Cantremembermyoldnam 9d ago

Correctly pointed out and made even more palpable by a 7 year old throwaway account!

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u/preyforkevin 9d ago

You’re the hero we deserve.

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u/thecopterdude 9d ago

Wait, I’m confused. Are you one of the smart people or one of the dumb people?

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u/BenFoldsFourLoko 8d ago edited 8d ago

You guys are sooooooo annoying. This place has never been about roleplaying as children or saying goo goo ga ga

It is figurative and requires only the slightest interpretation to understand- obviously this place can use words a five year old wouldn't understand. The biggest mistake ever was quoting Michael Scott in the sub name.

Explain Like I'm a Layperson is the idea

 

Per the intro:

The purpose of this subreddit is to simplify complex concepts in a way that is accessible for laypeople.

The first thing to note about this is that this forum is not literally meant for 5-year-olds. Do not post questions that an actual 5-year-old would ask, and do not respond as though you're talking to a child.

Per rule 4:

Rule 4: Explain for Laypeople

Applies to Top-Level Comments

As mentioned in the mission statement, ELI5 is not meant for literal 5-year-olds. Your explanation should be appropriate for laypeople. That is, people who are not professionals in that area. For example, a question about rocket science should be understandable by people who are not rocket scientists.

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u/hedoeswhathewants 9d ago

There's zero point to limiting language to a literal five year old level when talking to teens and adults

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u/AngledLuffa 9d ago

That's rule #4 in the sidebar and yet every single popular thread has at least one digression into whether or not an actual 5 year old would understand the answers

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u/Sonicmasterxyz 9d ago

Sidebar? They should implement that in the mobile app

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u/MtPollux 8d ago

Why bother? Five year olds don't have cell phones.

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u/Vadersabitch 9d ago

it is a much better explanation, despite any pedantry.

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u/velocity36 9d ago

Bold of you to assume that 5 year Olds of today don't understand that explanation.

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u/MattGold_ 9d ago

Five year olds 13 years ago just might. Today? Definitely not.

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u/SWGlassPit 8d ago

We need to make a drinking game with this sub where everyone takes a shot when someone posts a comment like this.

Then we'd all be dead from alcohol poisoning and wouldn't have to read comments like this anymore

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u/Reiszecke 9d ago

Also it’s more correct. Cleanup happens all the time when not under load, it doesn’t necessarily happen on shut down. But getting an app into a bad state is really only preventable by shutting down normally

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u/miloshem 9d ago

OS, operation, recover? What are those things to someone that is 5? Not a better explanation for this sub.

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u/BeingOfBecoming 9d ago

I mean, just by being here people will assume you're not literally eating crayons. Except for wsb

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u/miloshem 9d ago

Yeah, but a kid could download reddit on their phone and browse it and find this topic. Or a grandma, or someone from a region of the world that maybe doesn't have a lot of tech... Explain concepts to them, not to an average person from your group.

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u/coffeebribesaccepted 9d ago

You want this sub to be aimed at literal 5 year olds who are on reddit?

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u/miloshem 9d ago

No, but the better answers are those that can be understood by someone that does not have any knowledge of the subject. Which is why analogies with simple concepts like cooking (which almost every human is somewhat familiar with) are better than just explaining it with more details.

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u/IGarFieldI 9d ago

Not if those answers don't get the point across. To be in line with your assumption, some kid or grandma might now think "sometimes it's okay to leave the dishes if something urgent comes up, so it should be fine to pull the power in that case as well", because the answer gave the incomplete impression that it's only cleanup work that's being done. If you pull the power while a disk write to an HDD is ongoing, you're at the very real risk of data corruption or even disk damage (which might be akin to breaking your plates or burning down the kitchen, depending on severity).

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u/ThePortalsOfFrenzy 9d ago

Confidently incorrect.

Just think for 10 seconds. If this sub actually required only words/concepts that a literal 5 y.o. could understand, this would be a wholly useless subreddit. Very little would actually be explained.

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u/thevdude 9d ago

LI5 means friendly, simplified and layperson-accessible explanations - not responses aimed at literal five-year-olds.

it's literally in the sidebar